Summer 2003

Constructimus, Batuimus – “We Build, We Fight”
NMCB-8
Newsletter
VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2
SUMMER 2003
The first All-Seabee Reunion held at the
Casa Sirena in Port Hueneme was a mixed
success. Casa Sirena was selected by Ed
Kloster to replace the Channel Islands Inn
after several double-bookings, and failure to
reserve the meeting rooms for us.
The Casa Sirena was a step up in the room
accomodations, and they provided for all the
Seabee rooms in one building so that
everyone was pretty much in the same place.
The restaurant was a two-block walk, and
some of the meeting rooms were
inconvenient, but generally those things will
be ironed out as Ed gets to know the
management.
Inside this issue:
Reunion Review
1
President Columns
2
Skipper’s Corner
3
State Reps
4
Firefighter’s Story
4
A Moment’s Reflection
5
Reunion Collage
6
In Memoriam-Honor Roll
7
From the Editor
7
Enrollment/Roster Form
8
average mad bomber?
An MCB-8 Association meeting was held
with approximately 50 hands, and their
spouses. Several items were discussed and
adopted;
Next year’s Reunion will be held in Gulfport
with the All-Bee’s reunion there, see outgoing President Rick Reese’s column.
A donation will be made from the
Association, in the name of Father Jim
Harris, details forthcoming from Rick Clark
who was nominated to explore several
options.
A new President was asked for, and Lou
Beland was selected in-abstentia, but phone
Check-in was as chaotic as usual, as there calls failed to recruit him. At that, Arnie
are always those that show up before the
Cicerone volunteered, and was given the job
advance party, and those that show up late, by default, by the selection committee.
but the battalion was represented by
approximately 60 attendees, from several A long discussion was initiated by one
eras. WWII, Korea, and Vietnam eras were member about “our mission” and where we
represented, and someone was there from all were heading with the Association. That was
tabled finally, without resolve. Anyone with
the Vietnam detachments.
thoughts on that one can write to the Editor.
MCB-11 had a hospitality room in the
restaurant this year, which was envied by the Note’s on the rest of the reunion;
rest of us. Our hospitality was limited to My wife, Janet, collected almost $800 for the
inter-room visiting, and gathering at the bar museum for the cash “50%” draw. There was
in the restaurant as old friends showed up to a raffle for a quilt, and Seabee motif photo
“chew the fat”.
albums, made by spouses of one the Bee’s
The usual tours were available, but you’d present. Altogether, almost $2,000 was raised
have to get reports from others, as this year for the museum at the Friday night soiree at
your editor spent more time around the hotel, the Casa Sirena’s and
talking, than going to events. There was no
structured golf party, because of the Saturday night’s dinner at Duke’s which was
difficulty arranging things on base with the a rousing success as usual. Capt. Bob Quinn
“terrorist watch”. Everything on base was joked his way through a bout of laryngitis and
monitored, and you had to be on proscribed Rick Clark provided a video slide show with
buses, and Ed had to give the Security Force stirring patriotism.
your social security numbers in advance.
Take one look at us! Don’t we look like the
V OL U ME 4, ISSUE 2
N MC B -8 NEW SL E T TE R
CHANGE OF COMMAND
Although I had anticipated stepping down as the
NMCB-8 Association president this year, events
could have slowed the change of leadership, but
for one of our members who stepped forward and
took the challenge. On 20 June 2003, the leadership of the association was passed to Arnold
Cicerone. I know that he will continue building
our association. He has my complete support.
As with any non-profit organization such as ours, Rick Reese-1967
we depend upon the work of volunteers to accomplish our tasks. I would like to thank all of you who volunteered
over these pass two years, giving your advice and support. I know
that you will give our new president the same.
Where is our association now and where are we going? The first
part is easy. We have selected Gulfport as our next reunion location. Gulfport has advised us that they are looking at a window of
30 Sept.–2 Oct. or 6 Oct – 9 Oct. 2004. Let’s make this an NMCB8 blow out. I also want to invite spouses, family, and friends to
attend the reunion and join in the fun. New Orleans is a great city to
visit and its only about a 70 minute drive from the host hotel.
More good news, the association is in good financial shape under
the supervision of our treasurer Ken Bingham. Ken has agreed to
continue in that position.
As many of you know from your experience in other service clubs,
fraternal groups, and the like, declining membership can become a
reality when active members do not aggressively recruit new members. I challenge each of you to find one of our missing shipmates,
and get them to join the association. We are in strong hands with
Arnie at the helm, with our best days ahead of us. God bless each of
you, your families, our troops, our country and our Navy.
Rick Reese
Dear Fellow Seabees,
Once again EIGHT had a successful reunion at
Port Hueneme in July of this year. And once
again EIGHT led the way with the most Seabees
present.
At the reunion, I was elected President of your
Association. I would like to thank all the members, friends and families of our Association for
giving me the opportunity to follow in the foot- Arnie Cicerone
steps of Rick Reese, my predecessor, as President. Rick will truly
be a tough act to follow.
I served with EIGHT on two tours of duty, first in Da Nang with
Alpha Company in 1965-1966, and then in Chu Lai with Delta
Company in 1966-1967. I left a few weeks early during my second
deployment when I fell off one of the revetments at the Chu Lai
airport and broke both of my heels and also fractured my back. I
always said if this had to happen I wish it were during the first two
weeks in Viet Nam not the last two! I will save the med-evac story
for another time.
As those of you who attended the reunion know, it went well. It’s
always good to see the new faces and hear the old stories. I was
also glad to meet some of our WWII vets from the Eighth Naval
PAGE 2
Construction Battalion many of whom joined with our Association over the past two years. I must admit I also enjoyed visiting Port Hueneme and Oxnard as this was the
first time since Viet Nam that I did not have to spend half
the night trying to find a place that would serve me a drink.
I did not have to explain that I was really 21 but my ID card
had the wrong date!
A personal thanks goes out to Rick Reese, Ron Dougal and
his wife Carol, Jack Quinn Dennis and his wife Janet,
Ken Bingham, Gordon Gilmore, Harry Davis, and Ken
Kerr for all the hard work you Seabees have done to make
this organization as great as it is. I also want to let you
know how much I will be counting on you to continue the
good work! I am new at this, so if I left any one else out
who deserves special recognition I am truly sorry! I know
there have to be others out there in this wonderful country
of ours who helped recruit new members, passed on names
of lost EIGHT Seabees and also attended the past five reunions. A big thanks to all of you for your help and support.
I will be counting on our membership to continue to provide
the help to keep the Association going and achieve the highest standards for our members. Our goals are simple, increase the membership, keep the communication going, and
prepare for the next reunion in Gulfport in October 2004
(exact dates yet to be determined). Rick Reese has contacted Gulfport and has started the 2004 reunion process and
we will provide better information as soon as possible.
Harry Davis will be sending out a new roster in a month or
so. Please take time to review your data and send in corrections. I plan to personally contact our state representatives
and keep the membership drive going. We also must not
forget to continue to locate lost members of EIGHT.
Finally, on a personal note, I have a special project that will
need the help of all of the Association members to fulfill.
Mike Estock and I served in Delta Company together in the
mountains of Chu Lai. We lived in the same tent for much
of that tour. After I was sent home early due to my accident, Mike was killed in action. When I moved to California
19 years ago I attempted to locate Mikes parents. I found
and visited his mother and learned his father had passed
away. I gave her some pictures of Mike that she had never
seen before.
What I would like to do is locate as many immediate family
members as we can of NMCB 8 Seabees who were killed in
action in Viet Nam, and invite them to a reunion. Some of
us may have information stories and photos of their love
ones taken during their Viet Nam tours that they have never
heard or seen. I will be sending out a special note, in the
near future, with more details as to what you can do to help
me, and the Association, in this project.
I hope to see you all in Gulfport in 2004.
Seabees Can Do
Arnie
V OL U ME 4, ISSUE 2
NMCB-8 NEWSLETTER
Bob Westberg relieved Jack
O'Leary at 1100 on 16 July 1968 at
Phu Bai. After the Phu Bai deployment and six months in Port Hueneme the Battalion returned to
Vietnam, this time to Danang in
March of 1969. After returning to
Port Hueneme at the end of the
Danang deployment, the Battalion
was decommissioned on 20 December 1969. On retiring from the
Navy in 1979, Bob and his wife moved to Trinidad, California. Bob still does some Engineering Consultation on a part
time basis.
While we see on the news a lot of information
about our military forces being deployed all
over the world, little is available about what the
Seabees are doing. I was able to get some web
sites from my son who is stationed at "Naval
Base Ventura", which most of us remember as
Port Hueneme and Point Mugu. The work the
Battalions are doing brings back memories of
what we worked on in Vietnam. Here are a
few:
Engineers Complete Longest Floating Project
in Iraq. It was a 762 foot long bridge across the
Tigris River and took 11 days to complete.
There were 200 people working on the job from
NMCB 7, NMCB133, NCST 1, ACB1 and
ACB2. The last time Seabees built this type of
bridge is when they helped Patton over the
Rhine River in 1944. I guess the ones we
worked on in Vietnam weren't this long.
NMCB 133 Rebuilds Village School. Twenty
Seabees from NMCB 133 were sent to a village
nine miles away from the Iranian border to repair a half century old building. In nine days,
the 20 Seabees almost fully repaired the school
and restored the community's hope. One of the
Seabees said, "This is the best place in Iraq and
the best job we've had since we've been in Iraq"
NMCB 7 Makes Schools Operational in An
Nasiryah, Iraq. "We're putting up lights and
fans, running electrical wiring and changing
PAGE 3
electrical panels." said a construction Electrician
3rd Class.
Spanish President Thanks Seabees From NMCB
26 for Beach Project. Seabees from NMCB 26
worked 7 weeks to clean up beaches along the
southern coast of Spain after winter storms caused
damage. It's an annual project provided by Seabees stationed at Camp Mitchell, the Seabee compound at Naval Station, Rota.
Seabees, Royal Thai Teamwork Benefits School
and Community in Rayong, Thailand. NMCB 3
officer in charge said, "They (Thais) set the footers and erected the columns and we poured the
slab and put on the roof. My job is pretty easy.
I've got a really great crew." 14 Seabees worked
with 26 Royal Thai Marines and several local Civilians to complete the project in 12 days.
New Seabee Detachment Continues to Build.
NMCB Det 40 is at Naval Air Station, Atsugi, Japan working on several projects during their 6
month deployment. The rotation now is 6 months
deployed and 10 months in home port.
It does not appear that the jobs of Seabees have
changed much over the last 34 years since NMCB
8 completed its last deployment to Vietnam.
When I review the above projects they remind me
of the projects NMCB 8 completed while deployed to Hue, Phu Bai and Danang. I have been
looking through the cruise books from those two
deployments and I can assure you there is not
enough room in this article to list all the projects
that were "Better Built by Eight" during those two
deployments. I am proud to say I was a member
of NMCB 8 during that period and I am sure that
today's Seabees are proud of their accomplishments.
Bob Westberg
V O LU ME 4, ISSUE 2
NMCB-8 NEWSLETTER
PAGE 4
State Representatives List
Battalion Firefighter
It was voted at the Association meeting at the reunion to
keep this list of State Representatives in the newsletter, so
that you could contact your State Rep anytime you needed
him. This list is maintained by Ron Dougal Sr., and he
still needs volunteers for some states. Contact him. Let him
know you can help.
Taken from the Hawaii Fire Fighters Association Hot Line
dated August 18, 1969:
Committed Representatives
Alabama—————Tom Burton
Arizona—————–Ron Dougal Sr.
California (North)—–Jack Quinn Dennis
Colorado—————Richard Berry
Connecticut————George Schuster
Indiana——————Joseph Henley
Kentucky—————F.M. Howard
Maine——————–Barry R. Cote
Maryland—————Tim Fowler
Michigan—————Eric Davis
Mississippi————–Howell T. McCormick
Nebraska————— Jim Glasgow
New Hampshire——–John Reed Jr.
Ohio———————Jerry A. Mallot
Oklahoma—————Richard B.Swallow
Oregon——————Robert J. Degon
Pennsylvania———–Albert Black
South Dakota———–John North
Tennessee—————Troy Branch
Texas———————Bill O'Ferrall
West Virginia———–Frank Pecjak
All the rest are open. If you do not see your state on this
list, VOLUNTEER! If anyone is interested in becoming a
state representative please contact:
Fire Fighter, Wendell DeFreitas, who left his job with the
Honolulu Fire Department to volunteer for active service
as a Seabee in Vietnam has received high praise from his
Battalion Commander for heroic fire fighting action during
a conflagration involving dangerous live munitions.
In a personal letter of appreciation, R. J. Westberg, Commanding Officer, U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Eight, describes the action which occurred in Danang,
Vietnam:
“At approximately 1130 hours on Sunday 27 April, 1969,
you, as a member of the NMCB EIGHT fire crew, were
dispatched to provide fire fighting assistance at the ASP-1
conflagration. Upon arrival at the scene you willingly,
without hesitation, and without regard to your own personal safety entered the buring area spewed with dangerous live munitions. Although forced back from firefighting
efforts by the gigantic explosions, you nevertheless managed to retrieve from a perilous location three exposed personnel from NMCB FIVE and transport them to a safe position.”
“Early the following morning you again returned to the
scene of the fire and were redirected to fight secondary
fires, the most significant of which included the POL depot. Although this location was also covered with unexploded munitions in addition to the burning stockpiles of
petroleum products, you again, with little regard for your
own personal safety, commenced to put this burning holocaust under control.”
Well done Wendell….
Ronald W.Dougal Sr .
6225 E. DesMoines St.
Mesa, Arizona 85205
PH# 480-807-3016
Email: dougalsr@aol.com
THIRD ANNUAL ALL SEABEE REUNION:
Seabees of all eras and battalions are invited to attend the Annual Summer Reunion being held at
Gulfport, MS in October of 2004. No actual date has been set, but we are reassured by Master
Chief Girard that the event will take place similar to the First, and Second Annual events which
took place on time!! MCB-8 will conduct it’s reunion in conjunction with this event.
V O LU ME 4, ISSUE 2
NMCB-8 NEWSLETTER
Contributed by Jack O’Leary from an e-mail:
"AMERICA, MY HOME!"
I sat in my seat of the Boeing 767 waiting for everyone to
hurry and stow their carry ons and grab a seat so we could
start what I was sure to be a long and uneventful flight
home. With the huge capacity and slow-moving people taking their time to stuff luggage far too big for the overhead
and never paying much attention to holding up the growing
line behind them, I simply shook my head knowing that this
flight was not starting out very well and although I had a
great bunch of meetings while conducting business on this
trip, it was quickly becoming tarnished with these delays in
my getting home to my loved one whom I had not seen in
several days.
The meetings, although fruitful were long and I had not
slept well, not to mention those blasted new dress shoes that
rubbed a blister on my heel. I was pretty focused on "my"
issues and just felt like standing up and yelling for some of
these clowns to get their act together and focus on taking
their seats. Knowing I couldn't say anything that would
really help, I just thumbed through the sky mall widget
magazine from the seat pocket in front of me. You know it's
really getting rough when you resort to the over priced and
mostly useless sky mall crap to break the monotony and inconvenience of the trouble I was going through.
With everyone finally on board and seated, we just sat there
with the cabin door open and seemingly no one in any hurry
to get us going even though we were well past our scheduled
take off time. The paperwork had not yet come in to the
flight deck, the attendants just stood around talking. No
wonder the airline industry is in trouble I told myself. Don't
they realize we have some place we are supposed to be? We
should be treated with more importance, after all we are the
customers, right? Just then, the attendant came on the intercom to inform us all that we were being delayed... as she
paused, the entire plane let out a collective groan.
She resumed her announcement, "We are holding the aircraft for some very special people who are on their way to
the plane and that the delay should not be more than five
more minutes. Their connecting flight has traveled a long
way and we will get under way just as soon as possible."
Now, I have had this happen to me before and more often
than not, I had to catch the next flight or even go to another
carrier to get to my destination. Still, I was grateful for the
times when they waited for me, so I thought that I would go
back to my sky mall pages and try to forget just how much I
was being inconvenienced. An attendant scrambling down
the connecting tunnel to the main cabin door brought word.
I thought that maybe she had some information that would
let us know why we had been sitting there for over 30 minutes!!
PAGE 5
Had someone finally given word that after waiting six times
as long as we were first promised that I was finally going to
be on my way? Why the hoopla over these folks? Just get
their butts in a seat and let's hit the gas, I thought. After a
few minutes we were all "locked on" when the attendant
came back on the speaker. We were expecting some celebrity or sport figure to be announced as the reason the aircraft was delayed so long. I thought. "Who cares? Let's go!!"
She announced in a loud and excited voice that we were being joined by several United States Marines returning home
from Iraq!!!! Just as they walked onboard, the entire plane
erupted into applause. The men were a bit taken by the surprise of the 340+ people cheering for them as they searched
for their seats. It didn't stop - they were having their hands
shook and touched by almost everyone who was within an
arm's distance of them as they tried to push through the
aisles. Whistles, cheering, an occasional "oorrahh", one elderly woman kissed the hand of one of the Marines as he
passed by her, and the applause didn't stop for a long time
as they continued toward the back of the aircraft. When we
finally got airborne, I am sure I was not the only civilian
checking his conscience, thinking of the delays in getting
home from my "hard business meetings", finding my easy
chair and remote, a cold beverage, and tending to my blister.
In fact I felt pretty stupid as I am sure many did.
After what these men had done for all of us, and I had been
complaining silently about "me" and "my issues"? It sure
made me realize that as much as I told myself that I didn't
take for granted some of the everyday freedoms I enjoy, and
the conveniences of the American way of life and that it
sometimes seems like a personal attack on one of us when
things don't go exactly right... and I was doing exactly that. I
was taking it for granted. I took it for granted when others
who had really paid the price for my ability to moan and
complain (even if it was just to myself) - let alone a few minutes delay - so that those HEROES could go home to their
loved ones.
I attempted to get my selfish outlook back in order, and
minutes before we landed I suggested to the attendant that
she announced over the speaker a request for everyone to
remain in their seats until our heroes were allowed to gather
their things and be first off the plane. The cheers and applause continued until the last Marine stepped off. We all
rose. I felt proud of them. I felt it an honor and a privilege
to be among the first to welcome them home and say thank
you for a job well done. I vowed that I will never forget that
flight nor the lesson learned.
I have said it before but I can't say it enough, THANK
YOU to those VETERANS and ACTIVE SERVICEMEN
AND WOMEN who may read this, and a prayer everyday
for those who cannot because they are no longer with us.
GOD BLESS AMERICA.
V O LU ME 4, ISSUE 2
NMCB-8 NEWSLETTER
2003 REUNION MEMORIES IN PICTURES
PAGE 6
V O LU ME 4, ISSUE 2
N MC B-8 NE W SLE T TE R
PAGE 7
IN MEMORIAM
In remembrance of those who served with us.
No news here to report
THE BINNICALE LIST
Pappy Phelps is fighting a battle with the medics right now in chemotherapy. No visitors, but cards I’m sure would be welcome.
John North is facing eye surgery, dealing with the effects of his MS. Cards would be welcome.
From the Editor:
We’ve had some
growing pains in the
last year. Several
people are working
on contacting old
friends, other Bee’s
who’ve been missing
from our ranks. Most
notably are Ron
Dougal, Rick Reese,
and John North.
These guys are the
ones responsible for
most of the names and addresses we have today.
We’ve endeavored to put together a list of all those known,
all those contacted, and all those who’ve replied. That list is
the one Arnie talks about being issued in the coming
months. It was put together by Ron Dougal. If you don’t see
your friends, your buddies, on the list, be sure to submit
their names to one of the above so we can begin looking for
them…
John North is also working on a Bravo Company reunion
somewhere in the Mid-west during the coming year. He’s
promised not to conflict with the Gulfport reunion. So far, he
has about 20-30 commitments.
And Harry Davis and I have been conferring on the newsletter. Hoping to get it out in a timely manner, and with the content looked for by you, the Association. To that end, I would
appreciate letters to the editor, contributions to the stories,
pictures that don’t exist in the archives, and, in general, some
working feedback so that I can continue to do the job you
want on the newsletter.
Jack
NMCB-8 Seabees’ Association
C/o Harry Davis
4720 NW Terrace View Drive
Bremerton, Wa. 98312
President ……………....……….….. Arnie Cisneros
Treasurer ……………………………. Ken Bingham
Recruiting …………..…. Rick Reese & Ron Dougal
Newsletter Editor …...……….. Jack Quinn Dennis
Web Page Editor ………….….. Jack Quinn Dennis
Web Page: http://mcb-8.org
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
SEABEES “CAN DO”
ATTENTION: Anyone interested in submitting articles to the newsletter should send them directly to Jack Quinn Dennis at his
e-mail jqteach@yahoo.com; or home address P.O. Box 311 Pittsburg, Ca. 94565.
NMCB-8 ASSOCIATION ENROLLMENT
AND ROSTER UPDATE FORM
Name: ________________________________________________________________________
Address: ______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Phone & Email: _______________________________________________________________
Dates served with EIGHT _____________________________________________________
In order to receive the NMCB-8 Association Newsletter I understand I must join the Association. Enclosed are my
dues of _______ ($10 yearly or $100 for lifetime) which will maintain my membership in good standing.
Detach form at dotted line and return, along with dues to: Ken Bingham Treasurer, 1773 Tamarin Avenue, Ventura,
CA 93003. Make check or money order out to NMCB-8 Association. Please do not send cash.
A roster of members of the NMCB-8 Association will be reprinted yearly and mailed to all members in good standing. It
is to your advantage to ensure that roster information is correct and up to date. Use this form to submit desired changes
to:
Harry Davis
4720 NW Terrace View Drive, Bremerton, WA. 98312